Chapter 5 - THE LAST STAR
Smoke poured into the vault.
Adrian kept his gun pointed at me.
Laura stood beside the desk, barely able to remain upright. The flames above us roared through the cottage floor, cutting off the staircase.
“You need to lower the gun,” I said.
“So you can arrest me?”
“So we can survive.”
“There is no survival after what you uploaded.”
“You can testify.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Against Cecilia?”
“Against everyone.”
“You think the government will protect me?”
“You spent your life buying protection.”
“And now every person we bought knows I have evidence against them.”
Sirens grew louder outside.
Adrian heard them.
For the first time, fear moved across his face.
“Open the ocean gate,” I said.
“What?”
“There’s another exit.”
Laura pointed toward the iron gate leading into the cliff passage.
“Your fingerprint may be part of the combination.”
Adrian looked at the gate.
“You’re lying.”
“My father designed this vault for people running from you,” I said. “He would have created more than one way out.”
Smoke lowered toward the floor.
I crouched.
“Shoot me, and you die here.”
He stared at me.
Then he lowered the gun slightly.
We moved to the gate.
A steel panel beside it displayed six blank digits and a small fingerprint scanner.
I searched the cabinets for instructions.
Laura leaned against the wall.
“Your father once said the emergency code was the date Marcus first became a criminal.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“I was a criminal long before your father noticed.”
“What date mattered to him?” I asked.
“The day I married Laura.”
Laura gave me the date.
I entered it.
The panel flashed red.
Incorrect.
Adrian coughed.
“He wouldn’t use the wedding date.”
“Why?”
“Because that wasn’t when he decided I was dangerous.”
Laura studied him.
“It was the day he found me at the river.”
I turned toward her.
“What date?”
She told me.
I entered it.
The panel requested a fingerprint.
Adrian placed his thumb against the scanner.
Nothing happened.
“Maybe Laura,” I said.
She pressed her finger against it.
The gate unlocked.
My father had built the exit for the victims, not the criminals.
We entered a narrow tunnel that sloped toward the ocean. I supported Laura while Adrian followed with the gun.
Cold air moved through the passage.
Behind us, something exploded inside the vault.
The blast pushed smoke and sparks into the tunnel.
We hurried forward.
At the end, stone steps rose toward a rusted metal door. I forced it open.
We emerged on a narrow beach beneath the cliffs.
Night had fallen.
Police lights flashed near the main house high above us, but the cliff blocked any direct path. Waves struck the rocks only yards away.
A small motorboat was tied to an old dock.
Adrian saw it.
“That’s our way out.”
“Our way to the police,” I said.
He raised his gun again.
“My way out.”
Laura stepped between us.
“You always were a coward.”
His face tightened.
“You should have died fifteen years ago.”
“But I didn’t. And now everyone knows what you are.”
He aimed at her.
I moved before he could fire.
I struck his wrist with both hands.
The gun discharged into the sand.
Laura grabbed his arm. Adrian shoved her away.
She fell near the water.
I hit him again.
He seized my jacket and threw me against the dock railing.
Pain exploded through my shoulder.
He reached for the gun.
A voice called from the cliff path.
“Nora!”
Evan.
He stumbled down the stone steps with his hands still tied in front of him.
Cecilia followed.
Blood stained her dress. Her hair had come loose, and she carried a pistol in one hand.
Adrian froze.
“Cecilia.”
She smiled at him.
“You heard the recording.”
He looked toward Laura.
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You tried to murder her without telling me.”
“She was going to destroy us.”
“You said she escaped.”
“What difference does it make now?”
Evan reached the beach.
Cecilia grabbed the back of his shirt and pressed the gun to his head.
“It makes a difference because you lied,” Adrian said.
Her smile vanished.
“We both lie.”
“Not about that.”
“Don’t pretend you loved her.”
“I didn’t.”
Laura’s expression did not change, but pain passed through her eyes.
Adrian continued.
“But you changed the plan. You paid Shaw without telling me. You kept your own accounts.”
Cecilia laughed.
“Now you’re offended by secret money?”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“You planned to leave without me.”
“So did you.”
Adrian looked at her.
The silence between them held seventeen years of betrayal.
They had built their marriage on lies and expected loyalty from each other.
Cecilia tightened her grip on Evan.
“Pick up the gun, Marcus.”
Adrian did not move.
“Pick it up.”
He bent slowly.
I watched his hand.
Police voices echoed from the path above, but the officers were still too far away.
Cecilia glanced toward the lights.
“We take the boat. Nora comes with us. Her brother stays.”
“No,” Adrian said.
Cecilia stared at him.
“What?”
“The archive is gone. The properties are useless now.”
“Nora is still worth something.”
“To whom?”
“Judges. Bankers. People whose names were in those files. Someone will pay to stop her testimony.”
My stomach turned.
Adrian looked at me.
“Is that true? Did the archive include everyone?”
“Yes.”
“Shaw?”
“Yes.”
“Senator Croft?”
“Yes.”
“Accounts in Zurich?”
“All of them.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
Cecilia’s voice became sharp.
“Marcus, get in the boat.”
He looked at his wife.
“You destroyed the jammer?”
“I needed to contact our pilot.”
“That’s how the archive uploaded.”
Realization crossed her face.
She had caused their downfall.
Her gun shifted away from Evan for less than a second.
He moved.
Evan slammed his head backward into her face.
Cecilia screamed.
The gun fired.
Adrian lunged.
I could not tell whether he was reaching for Evan, Cecilia, or the weapon.
They collided near the edge of the dock.
Laura pulled Evan toward the beach.
I kicked the fallen gun into the water.
Cecilia struck Adrian with the pistol in her hand.
“You betrayed me!”
“You betrayed us first!”
She fired.
The bullet struck Adrian in the side.
He staggered.
Cecilia aimed again.
I grabbed a signal flare from the emergency pouch Laura had carried from the vault.
I fired it toward Cecilia.
The flare struck the dock railing beside her, exploding in brilliant red light.
She recoiled.
Adrian seized her wrist.
They struggled.
The old railing cracked.
Cecilia slipped.
For one second, she hung above the dark water, gripping Adrian’s sleeve.
“Marcus!”
He stared down at her.
She looked terrified.
“Help me!”
He reached with his other hand.
Then she raised the pistol and aimed at his chest.
Adrian released her.
Cecilia fell into the ocean.
The current pulled her away from the dock.
She surfaced once, screaming.
A wave struck the rocks.
Then she disappeared.
Police officers reached the beach moments later.
Mercer led them.
“Drop the weapon!”
Adrian stood motionless, one hand pressed against the wound in his side.
The pistol had fallen with Cecilia.
He raised both hands.
Mercer ordered him to the ground.
Adrian sank to his knees.
Paramedics rushed toward Laura and Evan.
I stood at the edge of the dock, staring at the water.
Cecilia was gone.
Mercer approached me.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so.”
He looked toward the burning cottage above the cliff.
“The archive reached us. Federal agents are already executing emergency warrants.”
“My father’s files were real?”
“Real enough that Judge Shaw tried to leave the country twenty minutes ago.”
I looked at Adrian.
Officers were treating his wound before taking him into custody.
He met my eyes.
“Cecilia is still alive,” he said.
Mercer turned sharply.
“What?”
“She has a diving route beneath the cliffs. We planned it years ago.”
I stared at the water.
A hidden underwater exit.
A boat appeared beyond the rocks.
At first, I assumed it belonged to the police.
Then its engine roared.
A figure climbed aboard from the ocean.
Even at a distance, I recognized Cecilia’s pale dress.
She turned toward the shore.
Moonlight caught the gun in her hand.
Then the boat accelerated into the darkness.
Mercer reached for his radio.
“Marine units, suspect escaping south from Bennett Point!”
Adrian smiled weakly from the ground.
“She won’t run,” he said.
“Why not?” I asked.
His eyes remained on the disappearing boat.
“Because Cecilia never leaves without revenge.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Cecilia’s voice whispered through the speaker.
“You took my husband, my money, and my name.”
“You did that to yourself.”
She laughed.
“Then I suppose I have nothing left to lose.”
A video arrived while she was still speaking.
It showed Benjamin Cole, my attorney, bound to a chair in his office.
Behind him, gasoline glistened across the floor.
Cecilia lowered her voice.
“Come save the last person your father trusted.”
May you like
The video ended with a match striking.
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